Pixel based gobo record control format

ABSTRACT

A special record format used for commanding light pattern shapes and addressable light pattern shape generator. The command format includes a first part which commands a specified gobo and second parts which command the characteristics of that gobo. The gobo is formed by making a default gobo based on the type and modifying that default gobo to fit the characteristics.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/271,521, filed Oct. 15, 2002, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 09/882,755, filed Jun. 15, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No.6,466,357, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/500,393, filed Feb. 8, 2000 now U.S. Pat. 6,256,136, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/145,314, filed Aug. 31,1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,958, which claims priority from U.S.Provisional application Nos. 60/059,161, filed Sep. 17, 1997, and60/065,133, filed Nov. 12, 1997.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a system of controlling light beampattern (“gobo”) shape in a pixilated gobo control system.

BACKGROUND

Commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 08/854,353, the disclosureof which is herewith incorporated by reference, describes a stagelighting system which operates based on computer-provided commands toform special effects. One of those effects is control of the shape of alight pattern that is transmitted by the device. This control is carriedout on a pixel-by-pixel basis, hence referred to in this specificationas pixilated. Control is also carried out using an x-y controllabledevice. The preferred embodiment describes using a digital mirrordevice, but other x-y controllable devices such as a grating lightvalve, are also contemplated.

The computer controlled system includes a digital signal processor 106which is used to create an image command. That image command controlsthe pixels of the x-y controllable device to shape the light that it isoutput from the device.

The system described in the above-referenced application allowsunparalleled flexibility in selection of gobo shapes and movement. Thisopens an entirely new science of controlling gobos. The presentinventors found that, unexpectedly, even more flexibility is obtained bya special control language for controlling those movements.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure defines a way of communicating with an x-ycontrollable device to form special electronic light pattern shapes.More specifically, the present application describes using a controllanguage to communicate with an electronic gobo in order to repositionpart or all of the image that is shaping the light.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects of the invention will now be described withreference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the basic system operating theembodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a basic flowchart of operation;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of forming a replicating circles type gobo;

FIGS. 4A through 4G show respective interim results of carrying out thereplicating circles operation;

FIG. 5 shows the result of two overlapping gobos rotating in oppositedirections; and

FIGS. 6(1) through 6(8) show a z-axis flipping gobo.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the hardware used according to thepreferred embodiment. As described above, this system uses a digitalmirror device 100, which has also been called a digital mirror device(“DMD”) and a digital light processor device (“DLP”). More generally,any system which allows controlling shape of light on a pixel basis,including a grating light valve, could be used as the light shaper. Thislight shaper forms the shape of light which is transmitted. FIG. 1 showsthe light being transmitted as 102, and shows the transmitted light. Theinformation for the digital mirror 100 is calculated by a digital signalprocessor 106. Information is calculated based on local informationstored in the lamp, e.g., in ROM 109, and also in information which isreceived from the console 104 over the communication link.

The operation is commanded according to a format.

The preferred data format provides 4 bytes for each of color and gobocontrol information.

The most significant byte of gobo control data, (“dfGobo”) indicates thegobo type. Many different gobo types are possible. Once a type isdefined, the gobo formed from that type is represented by a number. Thattype can be edited using a special gobo editor described herein. Thegobo editor allows the information to be modified in new ways, and formsnew kinds of images and effects.

The images which are used to form the gobos may have variable and/ormoving parts. The operator can control certain aspects of these partsfrom the console via the gobo control information. The type of gobocontrols the gobo editor to allow certain parameters to be edited.

The examples given below are only exemplary of the types of gobo shapesthat can be controlled, and the controls that are possible when usingthose gobo shapes. Of course, other controls of other shapes arepossible and predictable based on this disclosure.

A first embodiment is the control of an annulus, or “ring” gobo. The DMD100 in FIG. 1 is shown with the ring gobo being formed on the DMD. Thering gobo is type 000A. When the gobo type 0A is enabled, the goboeditor 110 on the console 104 is enabled and the existing gobo encoders120, 122, 124, and 126 are used. The gobo editor 110 provides theoperator with specialized control over the internal and the externaldiameters of the annulus, using separate controls in the gobo editor.

The gobo editor and control system also provides other capabilities,including the capability of timed moves between different editedparameters. For example, the ring forming the gobo could be controlledto be thicker. The operation could then effect a timed move betweenthese “preset” ring thicknesses. Control like this cannot even beattempted with conventional fixtures.

Another embodiment is a composite gobo with moving parts. These partscan move though any path that are programmed in the gobo data itself.This is done in response to the variant fields in the gobo controlrecord, again with timing. Multiple parts can be linked to a singlecontrol allowing almost unlimited effects.

Another embodiment of this system adapts the effect for an “eye” gobo,where the pupil of the eye changes its position (look left, look right)in response to the control.

Yet another example is a Polygon record which can be used for forming atriangle or some other polygonal shape.

The control can be likened to the slider control under a QuickTime moviewindow, which allows you to manually move to any point in the movie.However, our controls need not be restricted to timelines.

Even though such moving parts are used, scaling and rotation on the gobois also possible.

The following type assignments are contemplated:

-   00-0F=FixedGobo (with no “moving parts”)-   10-1F=SingleCntrl (with 1 “moving part”)-   20-2F=DoubleCntrl (with 2 “moving parts”)-   30-FF=undefined, reserved.

The remaining control record bytes for each type are defined as follows:

Byte: #gobos/ memory dfGobo2 dfGobo3 dfGobo4 type, total - FixedGobo:ID[23:16] ID[15:8] ID[7:0] 16 M/type 256 M SingleCntrl: ID[15:8] ID[7:0]control#1 64 k/type  1 M DoubleCntrl: ID[7:0] control#2 control#1256/type  4 k

As can be seen from this example, this use of the control record tocarry control values does restrict the number of gobos which can bedefined of that type, especially for the 2-control type.

Console Support:

The use of variant part gobos requires no modifications to existingconsole software for the ICON (7M) console. The Gobo editor in currentICON software already provides 4 separate encoders for each gobo. Thesetranslate directly to the values of the 4 bytes sent in thecommunications data packet as follows:

Byte: dfGobo dfGobo2 dfGobo3 dfGobo4 Enc: TopRight MidRight BotRightBotLeft FixedGobo: ID[23:16] ID[15:8] ID[7:0] SingleCntrl: ID[15:8] ID[70] control#1 DoubleCntrl: ID[7:0] control#2 control#1

These values would be part of a preset gobo, which could be copied asthe starting point.

Once these values are set, the third and fourth channels automaticallybecome the inner/outer radius controls. Using two radii allows theannulus to be turned “inside out”.

Each control channel's data always has the same meaning within theconsole. The console treats these values as simply numbers that arepassed on. The meanings of those numbers, as interpreted by the lampschange according to the value in dfGobo.

The lamp will always receives all 4 bytes of the gobo data in the samepacket. Therefore, a “DoubleCntrl” gobo will always have the correctcontrol values packed along with it.

Hence, the console needs no real modification. If a “soft” console isused, then name reassignments and/or key reassignments may be desirable.

Timing:

For each data packet, there is an associated “Time” for gobo response.This is conventionally taken as the time allotted to place the new goboin the light gate. This delay has been caused by motor timing. In thissystem, variant gobo, the control is more dynamically used. If thenon-variant parts of the gobo remain the same, then it is still the samegobo, only with control changes. Then, the time value is interpreted asthe time allowed for the control change.

Since different gobo presets (in the console) can reference the samegobo, but with different control settings, this allows easily programmedtimed moves between different annuli, etc.

Internal Workings:

When the gobo command data is extracted from the packet at the lamp, thedfGobo byte is inspected first, to see if either dfGobo3 or dfGobo4 aresignificant in selecting the image. In the case of the “Cntrl” variants,one or both of these bytes is masked out, and the resulting 32-bitnumber is used to search for a matching gobo image (by Gobo_(—)1D) inthe library stored in the lamp's ROM 109.

If a matching image is found, and the image is not already in use, thenthe following steps are taken:

1) The image data is copied into RAM, so that its fields may be modifiedby the control values. This step will be skipped if the image iscurrently active.

2) The initial control values are then recovered from the data packet,and used to modify certain fields of the image data, according to thecontrol records.

3) The image is drawn on the display device, using the newly-modifiedfields in the image data.

If the image is already in use, then the RAM copy is not altered.Instead, a time-sliced task is set up to slew from the existing controlvalues to those in the new data packet, in a time determined by the newdata packet.

At each vertical retrace of the display, new control values arecomputed, and steps 2 (using the new control values) and 3 above arerepeated, so that the image appears modified with time.

The Image Data Records:

All images stored in the lamp are in a variant record format:

Header: Length 32 bits, offset to next gobo in list. Gobo _1D 32 bits,serial number of gobo. Gobo records: Length 32 bits, offset to nextrecord. Opcode 16 bits, type of object to be drawn. Data Variant part -data describing object. _Length 32 bits, offset to next record. Opcode16 bits, type of object to be drawn. Data Variant part - data describingobject. _(—) EndMarker 64 bits, all zeroes - indicates end of gobodata. + Next gobo, or End Marker, indicating end of gobo list.

Gobos with controls are exactly the same, except that they containcontrol records, which describe how the control values are to affect thegobo data. Each control record contains the usual length and Opcodefields, and a field containing the control number (1 or 2).

These are followed by a list of “field modification” records. Eachrecord contains information about the offset (from the start of the gobodata) of the field, the size (8, 16 or 32 bits) of the field, and howits value depends on the control value.

Length 32 bits, offset to next record Opcode 16 bits = control_record(constant) CntrlNum 16 bits = 1 or 2 (control number) /* fieldmodification record #1 */ Address 16 bits, offset from start of gobo toaffected field. Flags 16 bits, information about field (size, signed,etc) Scale 16 bits, scale factor applied to control before use ZPoint 16bits, added to control value after scaling. /* field modification record#2 */ Address 16 bits, offset from start of gobo to affected field.Flags 16 bits, information about field (size, signed, etc) Scale 16bits, scale factor applied to control before use ZPoint 16 bits, addedto control value after scaling.

As can be seen, a single control can have almost unlimited effects onthe gobo, since ANY values in the data can be modified in any way, andthe number of field modification records is almost unlimited.

Note that since the control records are part of the gobo data itself,they can have intimate knowledge of the gobo structure. This makes thehard-coding of field offsets acceptable.

In cases where the power offered by this simple structure is notsufficient, a control record could be defined which contains code to beexecuted by the processor. This code would be passed parameters, such asthe address of the gobo data, and the value of the control beingadjusted.

EXAMPLE RECORDS

The Annulus record has the following format:

Length 32 bits Opcode 16 bits, = type_annulus Pad 16 bits, unusedCentre_x 16 bits, x coordinate of centre Centre_y 16 bits, y coordinateof centre OuterRad 16 bits, outside radius (the radii get swapped whendrawn if their values are in the wrong order) InnerRad 16 bits, insideradius

It can be seen from this that it is easy to “target” one of the radiusparameters from a control record. Use of two control records, each withone of the radii as a target, would provide full control over theannulus shape.

Note that if the centre point coordinates are modified, the annulus willmove around the display area, independent of any other drawing elementsin the same gobo's data.

The Polygon record for a triangle has this format:

Length 32 bits Opcode 16 bits, = type_polygon Pad 16 bits, vertex count= 3 Centre_x 16 bits, x coordinate of vertex Centre_y 16 bits, ycoordinate of vertex Centre_x 16 bits, x coordinate of vertex Centre_y16 bits, y coordinate of vertex Centre_x 16 bits, x coordinate of vertexCentre_y 16 bits, y coordinate of vertex

It is easy to modify any of the vertex coordinates, producing distortionof the triangle.

The gobo data can contain commands to modify the drawing environment, byrotation, scaling, offset, and color control, the power of the controlrecords is limitless.

Second Embodiment

This second embodiment provides further detail about implementation oncethe gobo information is received.

Gobo information is, at times, being continuously calculated by DSP 106.The flowchart of FIG. 2 shows the handling operation that is carried outwhen new gobo information is received.

At step 200, the system receives new gobo information. In the preferredembodiment, this is done by using a communications device ill in thelamp 99. The communications device is a mailbox which indicates when newmail is received. Hence, the new gobo information is received at step200 by determining that new mail has been received.

At step 202, the system copies the old gobo and switches pointers. Theoperation continues using the old gobo until the draw routine is calledlater on.

At step 204, the new information is used to form a new gobo. The systemuses a defined gobo (“dfGobo”) as discussed previously which has adefined matrix. The type dfGobo is used to read the contents from thememory 109 and thereby form a default image. That default image isformed in a matrix. For example, in the case of an annulus; a defaultsize annulus can be formed at position 0,0 in the matrix. An example offorming filled balls is provided herein.

Step 206 represents calls to subroutines. The default gobo is in thematrix, but the power of this system is its ability to very easilychange the characteristics of that default gobo. In this embodiment, thecharacteristics are changed by changing the characteristics of thematrix and hence, shifting that default gobo in different ways. Thematrix operations, which are described in further detail herein, includescaling the gobo, rotation, iris, edge, strobe, and dimmer. Other matrixoperations are possible. Each of these matrix operations takes thedefault gobo, and does something to it.

For example, scale changes the size of the default gobo rotation rotatesthe default gobo by a certain amount.

Iris simulates an iris operation by choosing an area of interest,typically circular, and erasing everything outside that area ofinterest. This is very easily done in the matrix, since it simplydefines a portion in the matrix where all black is written.

Edge effects carry out certain effects on the edge is such as softeningthe edge. This determines a predetermined thickness, which is translatedto a predetermined number of pixels, and carries out a predeterminedoperation on the number of pixels. For example, for a 50% edgesoftening, every other pixel can be turned off. The strobe is in effectthat allows all pixels to be turned on and off at a predeterminedfrequency, i.e., 3 to 10 times a second. The dimmer allows the image tobe made dimmer by turning off some of the pixels at predetermined times.

The replicate command forms another default gobo, to allow two differentgobos to be handled by the same record. This will be shown withreference to the exemplary third embodiment showing balls. Each of thosegobos is then handled as the same unit and the entirety of the gobos canbe, for example, rotated. The result of step 206 and all of thesesubroutines that are called is that the matrix includes informationabout the bits to be mapped to the digital mirror 100.

At step 208, the system then obtains the color of the gobos from thecontrol record discussed previously. This gobo color is used to set theappropriate color changing circuitry 113 and 115 in the lamp 99. Notethat the color changing circuitry is shown both before and after thedigital mirror 100. It should be understood that either of those colorchanging circuits could be used by itself.

At step 210, the system calls the draw routine in which the matrix ismapped to the digital mirror. This is done in different ways dependingon the number of images being used. Step 212 shows the draw routine fora single image being used as the gobo. In that case, the old gobo, nowcopied as shown in step 202, is faded out while the new gobo newlycalculated is faded in. Pointers are again changed so that the systempoints to the new gobo. Hence, this has the effect of automaticallyfading out the old gobo and fading in the new gobo.

Step 214 schematically shows the draw routine for a system with multipleimages for an iris. In that system, one of the gobos is given priorityover the other. If one is brighter than the other, then that one isautomatically given priority. The one with priority 2, the lowerpriority one, is written first. Then the higher priority gobo iswritten. Finally, the iris is written which is essentially drawing blackaround the edges of the screen defined by the iris. Note that unlike aconventional iris, this iris can take on many different shapes. The iriscan take on not just a circular shape, but also an elliptical shape, arectangular shape, or a polygonal shape. In addition, the iris canrotate when it is non-circular so that for the example of a square iris,the edges of the square can actually rotate.

Returning to step 206, in the case of a replicate, there are multiplegobos in the matrix. This allows the option of spinning the entirematrix, shown as spin matrix.

An example will now be described with reference to the case of repeatingcircles. At step 200, the new gobo information is received indicating acircle. This is followed by the other steps of 202 where the old gobo iscopied, and 204 where the new gobo is formed. The specific operationforms a new gobo at step 300 by creating a circle of size diameterequals 1000 pixels at origin 00. This default circle is automaticallycreated. FIG. 4A shows the default gobo which is created, a default sizecircle at 00. It is assumed for purposes of this operation that all ofthe circles will be the same size.

At step 302, the circle is scaled by multiplying the entire circle by anappropriate scaling factor. Here, for simplicity, we are assuming ascaling factor of 50% to create a smaller circle. The result is shown inFIG. 4B. A gobo half the size of the gobo of FIG. 4A is still at theorigin. This is actually the scale of the subroutine as shown in theright portion of step 302. Next, since there will be four repeated gobosin this example, a four-loop is formed to form each of the gobos at step304. Each of the gobos is shifted in position by calling the matrixoperator shift. In this example, the gobo is shifted to a quadrant tothe upper right of the origin. This position is referred to as π over 4in the FIG. 3 flowchart and results in the gobo being shifted to thecenter portion of the top right quadrant as shown in FIG. 4C. This isagain easily accomplished within the matrix by moving the appropriatevalues. At step 308, the matrix is spun by 90 degrees in order to putthe gobo in the next quadrant as shown in FIG. 4D in preparation for thenew gobo being formed into the same quadrant. Now the system is readyfor the next gobo, thereby calling the replicate command which quiteeasily creates another default gobo circle and scales it. The four-loopis then continued at step 312.

The replicate process is shown in FIG. 4E where a new gobo 402 is formedin addition to the existing gobo 400. The system then passes againthrough the four-loop, with the results being shown in the followingfigures. In FIG. 4F, the new gobo 402 is again moved to the upper rightquadrant (step 306). In FIG. 4G, the matrix is again rotated to leaveroom for a new gobo in the upper right quadrant. This continues untilthe end of the four-loop. Hence, this allows each of the gobos to beformed.

Since all of this is done in matrix operation, it is easily programmableinto the digital signal processor. While the above has given the exampleof a circle, it should be understood that this scaling and movingoperation can be carried out for anything. The polygons, circles,annulus, and everything else is easily scaled.

The same operation can be carried out with the multiple parameter gobos.For example, for the case of a ring, the variable takes the form annulus(inner R, outer R, x and y). This defines the annulus and turns of theinner radius, the outer radius, and x and y offsets from the origin.Again, as shown in step 3, the annulus is first written into the matrixas a default size, and then appropriately scaled and shifted. In termsof the previously described control, the ring gobo has two controls:control 1 and control 2 defined the inner and outer radius.

Each of these operations is also automatically carried out by thecommand repeat count which allows easily forming the multiple positiongobo of FIGS. 4A-4G. The variable auto spin defines a continuous spinoperation. The spin operation commands the digital signal processor tocontinuously spin the entire matrix by a certain amount each time.

One particularly interesting feature available from the digital mirrordevice is the ability to use multiple gobos which can operate totallyseparately from one another raises the ability to have different gobosspinning in different directions. When the gobos overlap, the processorcan also calculate relative brightness of the two gobos. In addition,one gobo can be brighter than the other. This raises the possibility ofa system such as shown in FIG. 5. Two gobos are shown spinning inopposite directions: the circle gobo 500 is spinning thecounterclockwise direction, while the half moon gobo 502 is spinning inthe clockwise direction. At the overlap, the half moon gobo which isbrighter than the circle gobo, is visible over the circle gobo. Sucheffects were simply not possible with previous systems. Any matrixoperation is possible, and only a few of those matrix operations havebeen described herein.

A final matrix operation to be described is the perspectivetransformation. This defines rotation of the gobo in the Z axis andhence allows adding depth and perspective to the gobo. For each gobo forwhich rotation is desired, a calculation is preferably made in advanceas to what the gobo will look like during the Z axis transformation. Forexample, when the gobo is flipping in the Z axis, the top goes back andlooks smaller while the front comes forward and looks larger. FIGS.6(1)-6(8) show the varying stages of the gobo flipping.

In FIG. 6(8), the gobo has its edge toward the user. This is shown inFIG. 6(8) as a very thin line, e.g., three pixels wide, although thegobo could be zero thickness at this point.

Automatic algorithms are available for such Z axis transformation, oralternatively a specific Z axis transformation can be drawn anddigitized automatically to enable a custom look.

Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail above,other embodiments are contemplated by the inventor and are intended tobe encompassed within the following claims. In addition, othermodifications are contemplated and are also intended to be covered.

1. A system, comprising: a console, having at least one file therein which is indicative of an image, at least one control therein which controls some aspect of a light pattern shape based on the image, and a processing element that produces an output signal defining a record that includes information about said light pattern shape and at least one parameter representing said light pattern shape.
 2. A system as in claim 1, wherein said console includes a digital signal processor which computes information related to said output signal.
 3. A system as in claim 1, wherein said control allows controlling a size of the light pattern shape.
 4. A system as in claim 1, wherein said control allows controlling e basic shape and editing the shape.
 5. A system as in claim 1, wherein said control allows controlling a color of the shaped light.
 6. A system as in claim 1, wherein said record defines an output signal that controls a light.
 7. A system as in claim 1, wherein said record includes a first portion defining a gobo type, and a second portion defining characteristics of said gobo type.
 8. A system as in claim 7, wherein said characteristics include size of the gobo as defined by the first portion.
 9. A system, comprising: a console, having at least one control thereon, which stores images, allows selection of one of said images, to define a gobo, and includes a processing element which produces an output signal indicative of the gobo defined by said one of said images.
 10. A system as in claim 9, further comprising a control on said console which allows controlling variation of the gobo, and which changes the output signal indicative of said control.
 11. A system as in claim 10, wherein the output signal includes a first value indicative of the gobo type, and a second value indicative of said variation.
 12. A system as in claim 9, wherein said output signal includes a first value indicative of the gobo type and a second value indicative of additional aspects of the gobo.
 13. A system as in claim 12, wherein said first value is a number indicative of a gobo shape.
 14. A system as in claim 13, wherein said second value is information indicative of gobo sides.
 15. A system as in claim 13, wherein said second value is information indicative of gobo time.
 16. A format, comprising, a first set of bits defining the gobo control data which represents a form of a digital gobo and a second set of bits defining color data which represents a color of the digital gobo.
 17. A format as in claim 16, wherein said format includes another set of bits indicative of gobo size.
 18. A format as in claim 16, wherein said form of the digital gobo includes information indicative of the shape.
 19. A format as in claim 16, wherein said first set of bits includes a type assignment which indicates a number of moving parts.
 20. A format comprising a first set of bits defining a gobo to be projected, and a second set of bits defining the timing of moving parts of the gobo.
 21. A format as in claim 20, wherein said first set of bits defines at least a shape of the gobo.
 22. A format as in claim 20, wherein said second set of bits defines timing of a movement of the gobo.
 23. A format as in claim 20, wherein said second set of bits defines timing of a change in size of said gobo.
 24. A format comprising a first set of bite defining a gobo to be projected, said first set of bits defining a format of a notification of said gobo, and at least one additional set of bits, whose significance is determined by the first set of bits.
 25. A format as in claim 24, wherein the first set of bits defines a gobo type and includes a number of parameters of the gobo, and said at least one additional set of bits defines said parameters.
 26. A method, comprising: receiving, in a light projecting element, a signal representing a digital gobo, and using said signal representing the digital gobo to alter the shape of projected light on a pixel by pixel basis.
 27. A method as in claim 26, wherein said using comprises carrying out a matrix arithmetic operation using said signal. 